A polling analyst critical of President Barack Obama’s handling of the2010 Census broke with a Republican-led amendment to theconstitutionally-mandated count.
The amendment, introduced last week by Sen. David Vitter, R-La, andBob Bennett, R-Utah, would require the Census Bureau to ask for thefirst time whether citizens are legally staying in the United States.
This way, the 2010 Census can exclude illegal citizens from thepopulation count used to determine the allocation of federal resourcesand Congressional seats. The amendment also places a separate questionabout citizenship status on the Census.
Elliot Stonecipher — who has been publicly critical of the absence ofa citizenship status question on the 2010 Census — said while heshares Vitter’s concern about illegal immigrants and non-citizensinfluencing resource allocation and Congressional reapportionment, hedisagrees about the placement of a question of legal status on theCensus.
“Asking Census respondents whether or not they are legally in thecountry will suppress responses,” Stonecipher wrote.
The placement of a citizenship status question will serve the samepurpose but without the potential for lower response rates fromillegal immigrants who feel threatened by a legal status question, hesaid.
“A fair count enumerates everyone in the nation at the time of thecensus (with the exception of tourists), and distinguishes certain keypopulations for varied treatment in Congressional apportionment andElectoral College voting, and possibly in federal spending,”Stoncipher wrote.
 
—-Contact Nate Monroe at [email protected]